Sullivan loses bid for top spot on Liberal ticket

Trent Sullivan has failed in his bid to secure one of the top spots on the Liberals’ ticket for Western Victoria Region at the coming state election, with incumbent Bev McArthur holding the position.

Sullivan, the Leopold Ward councillor for the City of Greater Geelong and a former mayor, put his name forward to be preselected on the five-candidate ticket for the upper house seat in spot one or two, which are generally the most winnable.

Instead, preselectors at a conference yesterday chose McArthur, first elected to the seat in 2018, in first spot and former Burwood Liberal MP Graham Watt in second spot.

The Geelong Region Young Liberals congratulated McArthur and Watt for their preselection on social media yesterday. “Bring on November,” the group posted on Facebook.

Sullivan was elected vice-president for Country Victoria of the Victorian Liberal Party about a year ago.

He is one of two Geelong councillors contending for a spot on Liberal tickets at the coming state election, with Barrabool Hills Ward councillor Ron Nelson seeking to run in the seat of South Barwon.

Nelson resigned as deputy mayor on February 24, not long before the Geelong council began preparations to adopt new guidelines for councillors intending to run in state or federal elections.

At their meeting on Tuesday last week, councillors were to vote on a motion recommending the Municipal Association of Victoria lobby for legislation forcing councillors to step aside during state or federal election campaigns, but instead deferred the motion.

Geelong’s councillors typically take leave of absence while they are seeking higher office, such as then-mayor Stephanie Asher’s candidacy for the Liberals in the federal seat of Corangamite in 2022, but they are presently not legally required to do so.